Kurdalægon

Kurdalægon (Ossetian: Куырдалӕгон^[1]) is the heavenly god of the blacksmiths in Ossetian mythology. His epithet is the heavenly one; he shows the dead man's horse, thus helping him on his journey to the other side. He is a close friend of the Narts.

Etymology

Ossetian Kwyrdalægon is a contraction of Kurd Alæ Wærgon, where Kurd and Alæ are epithets, meaning "blacksmith" and "Alan/Aryan", respectively, and Wærgon is original name of Kurdalægon. The whole phrase means "Alan/Aryan Blacksmith Wærgon". Kurd originates from *kur-ta- or *kur-tar-, which is agent noun of *kur- "to heat", "to incandesce". Ossetian alæ originates from arya-, and originally meant "Aryan", and later "Alan".

Original name Wærgon is derived from Old Ossetic *wærg "wolf". Linguist Vasily Abaev compares it to the name of Roman god Vulcan.

See also

• Tlepsh
• Vulcan
• Kaveh the blacksmith

Notes

References

• Abaev, V.I. Historical-Etymological Dictionary of Ossetian language
• Talley, Jeannine Elizabeth (1978). The blacksmith: a study in technology, myth and folklore. University of California. p. 758. Retrieved 8 August 2012.